Gameweek 33 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is almost upon us but there’s still time to pick out three more differentials.
This time, we’ve selected low-owned picks at Manchester City, Aston Villa and Fulham, who we think have the potential to make an impact.
To qualify, the player should have an ownership of 5% or less.
We’ve slightly bent the rules this time on Kevin De Bruyne (£9.3m), who was owned by under 4% of managers when we earmarked out differentials earlier this week but who has attracted nearly 400,000 transfers in since.
KEVIN DE BRUYNE
- FPL ownership: 8.3%
- Price: £9.3m
- GW33-35 fixtures: eve + AVL | – | WOL
Given that he’s not in the Scout Picks, it felt remiss not to cover De Bruyne in some capacity this week.
Be it sentimentality or just desperation to tap into the City attack ahead of their Double Gameweek 33, the veteran Belgian is back in vogue.
The third-most-bought midfielder of the upcoming Gameweek, he’s more than doubled his ownership in the process.
De Bruyne was sublime in Gameweek 32, securing a 12-point haul in Manchester City’s 5-2 win over Crystal Palace.
He topped both the shot and key pass tables in that match, too:
Speaking after his starring role, the City stalwart said he was pain-free for the first time in a long time.
“It’s been a hard year. You know, having a hernia wasn’t fun but I think now I would say I’m basically pain-free for the last six weeks and that’s a massive difference playing with pain or no pain. It was hard but now I feel free, I’m able to do a lot of training sessions and I feel I can do a good job.” – Kevin De Bruyne
Currently, he’s operating in a roaming ‘false nine’ capacity – possibly to limit the amount of hard yards he has to put in, something he would be doing in a more orthodox central midfield role. The two wingers on either side of him are playing narrower and running beyond him:
There are two schools of thought.
One, that Guardiola is going to get as much out of De Bruyne as he can before the Belgian departs in the summer and give him a fitting, prominent farewell.
Or, the 33-year-old playmaker is just another pawn on Guardiola’s moving chessboard. The slippery City boss could go back to ‘wide wingers’ and an orthodox striker at the drop of a hat and/or merely manage his veteran midfielder’s minutes.
We can’t even guarantee two starts in Gameweek 33 (a start and a substitute appearance would be our best guess) but that may well be the case for most City attackers and indeed a lot of the Villa and Arsenal midfielders.
At least we know that when De Bruyne gets on the grass, he’s capable of the special.
YOURI TIELEMANS
- FPL ownership: 1.3%
- Price: £5.5m
- GW33-35 fixtures: NEW + mci | – | FUL
The ‘undroppable’ status of Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) has been widely discussed in recent weeks but there is another Aston Villa midfielder who has logged even more minutes than the England international in 2024/25.
Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) is the only Villan to start all 32 league matches for his club, completing 90 minutes on 25 of those occasions.
Unai Emery discussed both players’ durability last weekend.
“Some players are showing us their consistency, playing minutes and recovering. It is not easy to play at the level we demand in matches in a row without being injured.
“Youri and Morgan, they are being very important and consistent. I am always analysing if we can take some minutes to rest them, but until now they are being consistent and playing the demands we need.” – Unai Emery
Minutes aside, Tielemans is not the most glamorous of picks. He’s never managed more than 10 attacking returns in a single season, and is currently on eight for 2024/25.
Two of those have arrived in the last two Gameweeks, at least.
Tielemans’ recent underlying numbers haven’t been bad, either. Over the last six Gameweeks, he’s Villa’s leading chance creator (CC, below) and joint-second for shots (Tot, below):
With Gameweek 33 opponents Newcastle United and Manchester City possessing two of the higher, more aggressive defensive lines in the division, Tielemans could find ample space in behind for his superb through-balls from central midfield.
The Belgian is also on a share of set plays.
RYAN SESSEGNON
- FPL ownership: 0.6%
- Price: £4.1m
- GW33-35 fixtures: CHE | sou | avl
Ryan Sessegnon (£4.1m) might be a pick that some FPL managers will want to hold fire on, with the really good stuff – Southampton (a) – not until next weekend. He could enter the Gameweek 34 Free Hit conversation in particular.
If you’re going early on the budget Fantasy defender, Chelsea aren’t exactly formidable foes right now. After nearly losing to Championship-bound Ipswich Town, the Blues fell to a 2-1 loss at home to Legia Warsaw on Thursday.
Enzo Maresca’s side are also winless in their last eight Premier League matches on the road.
Above: Chelsea are bottom of the eight-match away form table
The Cottagers even turned over their neighbours at Stamford Bridge in December, winning 2-1.
Why Sessegnon? If you’ve not watched Fulham in the last few weeks, you may have missed the former Tottenham Hotspur defender playing ‘out of position’ on the right wing.
After successive returns off the bench in Gameweeks 29 and 30, Sessegnon was rewarded with a start in the last home match against Liverpool and turned in a superb showing, scoring for the third time in five matches.
He unsurprisingly kept his place on Monday at Bournemouth. Don’t be spooked by his early withdrawal: that turned out to be a touchline admin error, something that sent Marco Silva apoplectic.
Those two starts have brought six shots in the box, a Fulham high over that period:
Sessegnon has also had more than twice as many penalty area touches (16) as any teammate in the last two Gameweeks.
There’s obvious risk involved with Fulham well stocked with wingers but Sessegnon seems to hold the upper hand for now.
